2012 Lotus E20

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New Lotus named the E202012 chassis named in honour of team HQKimi Raikkonen: Sat in Lotus's new car for the first time on Friday

Lotus announced on Friday that their 2012 car is to be called the E20, in honour of it being the 20th chassis to be built at their Enstone headquarters.

The team, who have changed their name from Renault ahead of the new season, used the Oxfordshire base throughout their title-winning years of 2005-06 and also when they were known as Benetton.

It was initially built by chassis constructor Reynard for their own aborted bid to enter F1 in the early 1990s.
The announcement comes one day after the E20, which continues to use Renault engines, was fired up for the first time.

Also on Friday, the team's 2012 drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, were on hand at Enstone and both took the opportunity to get comfortable in the car's cockpit.

It is set to be lauched via Lotus's official website on February 5, two days before pre-season testing gets under way at Jerez.